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Hard Call Decision Framework

Structured thinking for decisions where every option is painful, like layoffs or shutdowns.

Source Download skill
Repository
alirezarezvani/claude-skills
Stars
29,149
Licence
MIT
Files
1 file

What it does

When you ask the agent to work through a painful decision, it follows a fixed set of steps: checks whether the choice can be undone, runs a 10-minute, 10-month and 10-year comparison, applies Andy Grove's 'replaced new CEO' test, maps who is affected, and asks you to draft the announcement first. It also gives short checklists for common cases such as co-founder conflicts, layoffs, pivots and killing a product line. It is a thinking guide, not a data tool.

Great for

  • Founders or executives weighing a layoff, a co-founder exit, a pivot or a shutdown
  • Managers facing a hard people or product call who want a structured checklist
  • Anyone who has been putting off a decision and wants a clear set of questions to answer

Skip it if

  • Routine business choices that are easy to reverse, since the framework is built for high-stakes, irreversible calls and may feel heavy-handed
  • Legal, employment or tax decisions, which need a qualified lawyer or accountant; the skill only prompts you to ask about severance and cap table implications
  • Replacing your own judgment or the input of the people affected; it structures thinking but does not know your company's facts

Try asking

  • “/em:hard-call Should we lay off 20% of the team or accept a down round to extend runway?”
  • “/em:hard-call Do we kill our most loved but unprofitable product line?”
  • “/em:hard-call I need to ask my co-founder to step back from the company. Help me think it through.”
  • “/em:hard-call Should we pivot to enterprise or shut the company down?”
Step-by-step guide: how to use Hard Call Decision FrameworkInstall, first run, examples, tips and FAQs

Install in 3 steps

  1. 1

    Download the skill

    The ZIP contains the 1 original files, the MIT licence and an attribution note.

    hard-call.zip
  2. 2

    Add it to your agent

    Claude Code (all projects)

    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && unzip hard-call.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

    Claude Code / Agent SDK (this project only)

    mkdir -p .claude/skills && unzip hard-call.zip -d .claude/skills/

    Claude apps (web/desktop): Settings → Capabilities → Skills → Upload skill, and choose the ZIP.

  3. 3

    Ask for the task

    No special command needed — the agent reads the skill's description and loads it when your request matches. Try one of the prompts above.

Get better results

  • Give the agent concrete facts (runway, headcount, revenue, cap table) so the stakeholder map and reversibility test are grounded rather than generic.
  • Write your own draft announcement alongside the agent's output; the framework treats being unable to write it as a sign you are not ready.
  • The skill references ../executive-mentor/references/hard_things.md for deeper guidance; install the whole executive-mentor folder so those links resolve.

What's inside

  • SKILL.md

Redistributed unmodified from alirezarezvani/claude-skills under the MIT licence. The assessment was drafted with AI from the skill's files on 2026-10-29. Skills can instruct your agent to run code — read SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.